NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is set to hear on Monday a plea seeking directions to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to restrict issuance of new Aadhaar cards to children up to six years of age and frame stricter guidelines for adolescents and adults to prevent misuse by infiltrators posing as Indian citizens.
According to the apex court’s May 4 causelist, the matter will be heard by a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL), filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay through advocate Ashwani Dubey, also seeks directions to install display boards at common service centres clarifying that Aadhaar is only a proof of identity and not proof of citizenship, address or date of birth.
The plea names the UIDAI, Union ministries of home, law and justice, electronics and information technology, along with all states and Union Territories, as parties.
It argues that Aadhaar, originally intended as an identity proof, has increasingly become a “foundational document” enabling access to other identification documents such as ration cards, domicile certificates and voter ID cards.
Citing that over 144 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued covering nearly 99 per cent of the population, the plea contends that weak verification processes allow infiltrators to obtain Aadhaar by falsely applying under the “Indian citizen” category.
It further claims that such individuals subsequently acquire other documents, making them indistinguishable from citizens, and raises concerns that this misuse undermines targeted welfare delivery and diverts public resources.
The petition also questions whether the Aadhaar Act, 2016 has become “temporally unreasonable” for failing to adequately distinguish between citizens and foreigners.